Supplements
tracked my stack for 6 months. here is what to keep and what to cut.
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tracked my stack for 6 months. here is what to keep and what to cut.
logged supplements daily + weekly how-i-feel score. net: keep: creatine, vit D3+K2, omega-3, magnesium glycinate at night cut: fancy multi (no measurable change), 'greens powder' ($$$, no change), ashwagandha (flattened me), turmeric (no effect for me) keep list costs me <$30/mo. the cut list was $180. big unlock.
the 4 supplements i'd actually defend buying
after years of trying 20+ things, the ones i always come back to: - creatine monohydrate (5g, muscle + cognition) - vitamin D (if your levels are low, confirm with labs) - magnesium glycinate at night (sleep + muscle) - omega-3 fish oil (if you don't eat fatty fish 2x/wk) everything else was situational or didn't move my bloodwork. save your money.
how to read a supplement COA (and why it matters)
certificate of analysis basics: look for third party lab (NSF, USP, Informed Choice, ConsumerLab), batch matching the one you bought, heavy metals + microbial limits within spec, and identity confirmation. if the company can't/won't send a COA for your batch, it is a flag. most of the supplement industry is unregulated pre-market. this is how you protect yourself.
a rant about "wellness" gummies
here is an unpopular opinion. 95% of wellness gummies are candy with a vitamin claim. half the dose. most of the sugar. bottle is cute though. if you need a gummy to take your vitamin, fine, just know the math.
NAD+ precursors - the hype is way ahead of the data
NR and NMN trials in humans are mostly small, short, and surrogate marker focused. blood NAD+ goes up. does that translate to longevity or energy in normal people? mostly unknown. the $$$ ones are priced for people who already decided. i'm not saying it's snake oil, i'm saying the confidence of marketing >> the confidence of the data.
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stop buying multivitamins, a thread
most multis are under-dosed on the things you actually need and over-dosed on stuff you don't. you're better off identifying the 1-3 things your bloodwork actually shows low and supplementing those specifically. i cut my supplement cabinet from 11 bottles to 3 and feel exactly the same.
chronic illness stack - what actually helped (n=me)
hashis + EDS. what moved the needle over 2 yrs: vit D (was deficient), iron w/ vit C (ferritin 18->60), magnesium at night, fish oil, creatine (huge for muscle energy). what didn't: fancy 'mitochondrial' blends, NAD+ precursors (dropped after 3 mo, nothing measurable), adaptogens (knocked me out in a bad way). ymmv obviously, posting the miss list too so it's honest.
magnesium trio - glycinate, citrate, threonate. what do you use when?
i rotate. glycinate at night for sleep. citrate in the morning when motility is sluggish. threonate in the afternoon for focus on big writing days. probably more placebo than real for the threonate but i use the ritual. curious how others split these up.
magnesium glycinate vs citrate vs l-threonate - my n=1
rotated each for 4 weeks: - citrate: pooped on time every day, didn't feel different otherwise - glycinate: slept deeper, woke less during the night - l-threonate: maybe slightly clearer head in the morning? subjective. glycinate won for me. but honestly magnesium in any form seems to do something useful if you're deficient.
ashwagandha made me feel weirdly flat, anyone else?
took KSM-66 600mg daily for 6 weeks. stress went down. also my motivation went down. felt emotionally muted, not in a good way. stopped it, came back within a week. not all adaptogens are for all people. how did it go for you?
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peri stack check in - 6 months update
peri, on HRT. supplement side: D3+K2 (was deficient), magnesium glycinate at night, creatine 5g, collagen 10g (mostly for joints, no skin claims), omega-3. sleep is better, grip strength is way better, skin is fine. nothing flashy. worth posting because peri wellness marketing is predatory and this stack is $40ish.
peri supplement stack — what i landed on after a year
for me at 48: - magnesium glycinate nightly - omega-3 - vitamin D3 + K2 (D was 22 on my labs) - b-complex (doc suggested after a fatigue workup) - creatine (started for strength, kept for the cognitive boost) things i tried and dropped: ashwagandha, maca, evening primrose oil (subjective nothing for me). HRT is doing the heavy lifting honestly, supplements are supporting cast.
creatine timing - does it actually matter for gains?
read 4 meta analyses this week. short answer: total daily dose matters way more than timing. 3-5g daily consistently > any pre/post workout gymbro religion. i've been taking it with breakfast for a year because i forget after lifts. strength is up, body comp is better. timing debate is small potatoes.
the case for getting most of it from food
boring advice but here we go. i tried to optimize with capsules for years. when i just ate an actual varied diet with fatty fish twice a week, leafy greens daily, enough red meat for iron, legumes, fruit — most of my marker improvements happened there. supplements fill gaps. they're not the main show. my pantry is cheaper and my gut is happier.
creatine HCL vs monohydrate - the HCL premium is a scam
tried HCL for 3 months because of the 'less bloating' hype. went back to good old mono. my gains and recovery were identical and HCL costs like 4x. if you bloat on mono try a smaller dose more often, don't pay extra for a fancier label.
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read the back of your vitamin D bottle carefully
D3 absorbs way better than D2. and both need fat to absorb properly. taking a dry D capsule with a bowl of cereal is kind of a waste. take it with eggs or olive oil or a meal with some fat in it. also check the cofactors — D loves to be taken with K2 if you're going high dose.
before you supplement: eat more fish, seeds, and sunlight
i get asked about stacks a lot. my honest starter kit is food-first: fatty fish 2-3x/wk, sunlight 10-15 min/day, nuts + seeds daily, leafy greens. adds up to a lot of omega-3, vit D, magnesium, and fiber basically for free. supplements after you know your diet baseline. not before.
beginner q: how many supplements is too many?
current stack: multi, omega, D, magnesium, collagen, biotin, a greens, a probiotic, electrolytes, b complex, ashwagandha. that's 11 pills+powders. i don't know why i take half of them. how do you audit a bloated stack? feels wasteful.
dudes over 50: the boring stack that actually helps
nothing exotic. vit D3 2k iu, magnesium glycinate, omega-3, creatine, fiber powder if i'm not hitting from food. labs improved over 2 yrs. doc is fine with it. i'm not chasing youth, i'm chasing not falling apart. share your old guy stack if you got one.
LDN for hashimotos + fatigue — 6 month check in
low dose naltrexone 4.5mg at bedtime prescribed off-label for autoimmune. the first month my sleep was weird (vivid dreams). by month 3 my fatigue was the lowest it had been in years. not a miracle. maybe 30-40% better. brain fog is the big one that lifted. not a supplement technically but adjacent. worth asking your doc about if you're in autoimmune world.
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minimalist stack for rosacea
after years of testing i keep 3: omega-3 for skin barrier, zinc (low dose) for inflammation, vitamin D (deficient). dropped quercetin, berberine, NAC. they might help others, they did nothing measurable for me. pared down is usually the correct answer.
postpartum biotin - it didnt do much for me
took it 6 months. hair grew back once my ferritin did, not when i added biotin. also: high dose biotin skews some blood tests (thyroid). pause a few days before labs. wish i'd known. dropped it, didn't notice any difference in a 2 month washout.
zinc for acne - modest but real for me
2 months of zinc picolinate 30mg with food. inflammatory spots down ~30%. not a miracle. i rotate off every 2-3 months to avoid copper issues. not the main thing i do for my skin but it's been a quiet helper. food + sleep + spf still >>> any supplement.
accutane + supplements - what i was told to skip
my derm told me to avoid vit A / retinol containing supplements (duh), high dose fish oil (bleeding risk with any scheduled procedures), and st johns wort. they were ok with vit D, creatine, magnesium. sharing because the 'what do i do with my stack on accutane' question comes up a lot.
zinc for acne - did it do anything?
15mg zinc picolinate daily for 3 months during my pre-accutane era. slight improvement in breakouts maybe? hard to say. kept it going as a 'just in case' because it's cheap. don't go over 40mg/day without labs, can mess with copper.